Vehicle mirror with adjustable reflective properties

ABSTRACT

A vehicle mirror comprises a lens, a reflective member disposed so as to receive light from the lens, and a support disposed so as to support the lens and the reflective member. A control system is connected to the reflective member and is effective to control the reflection of the reflective member. Various techniques are disclosed to control the reflection including the use of photochromic coatings, LCDs, and motor control assemblies.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is based on and claims priority to U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 60/786,653, filed on Mar. 28, 2006 andentitled VEHICLE MIRROR WITH ADJUSTABLE REFLECTIVE PROPERTIES, theentire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to vehicle mirrors and, more particularly, tomirrors whose reflective properties may be adjusted, and to cross-viewmirrors with added functionality.

Vehicle mirrors are known in the art and are used in various situations.For example, a rear-view mirror is typically mounted inside of a vehiclewith a line of sight designed so as to produce an image for a drivercorresponding to objects appearing behind the vehicle. A side-viewmirror has a similar function but is typically mounted outside thevehicle on both the driver and passenger sides. Cross-view mirrors aretypically used on school buses and possibly on other large vehicles, andare mounted to provide a view of the ground in front of and alongsidethe vehicle. Cross-view mirrors and other types of vehicle mirrors areshown and described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,436,372;4,822,157; 4,938,578; 5,084,785; 5,576,899; and 6,328,450—the entiretyof the contents of each of which patents is hereby incorporated byreference.

Basically, in large vehicles such as buses, and particularly in the caseof a school bus, cross view mirrors are mounted on front fenders of thebus. The cross-view mirror assists the driver in locating children orother pedestrians who may be near the bus. To illustrate the use of sucha cross-view mirrors, as shown generally in FIG. 1, a driver 50 of a bus52 has a line of sight 54 where driver 50 can see objects includingtraffic and pedestrians. However, when children or other pedestrians 56are dropped off from bus 52, children 56 may choose to run directly infront of bus 52 or along the side bus 52—both locations being outsidethe line of sight 54 of driver 50. To avoid harming the children, across-view mirror assembly 58 is installed—typically on both the leftand right front fenders of bus 52. Cross-view mirror assembly 58 isinstalled within line of sight 54 and produces a reflected image as soto enable driver 50 to see directly in front of bus 52 and along theside of bus 52, including in the directions 54 a which cover the groundand space in front of the bus. A view seen by the driver in one of thecross-view mirrors is provided in FIG. 1 a.

Cross-view mirror assembly 58 is comprised of a mirror support 60 and amirror 62. Mirror support 60 is used to mount mirror 62 to bus 52. Asshown in FIG. 2, mirror 62 includes a convex lens 64, a reflectingsurface 68, and a non-reflective backing surface 70 adhered toreflecting surface 68, typically just a layer of paint. A support 66,attached to the lens 68, has a fastening mechanism 66 a by which themirror unit can be held by the support 60. Lens 64 may be made of atransparent and rigid acrylic plastic and is therefore, see-through.Reflecting surface 68 may be a metal such as aluminum and non-reflectivebacking surface 70 may be simply a coat of paint.

Prior art cross-view mirrors do not provide an ability to change thereflective properties of the cross-view mirror reflective surface.Although, some have used tinting for reducing glare from an upperportion of the mirror, such approach may result in the upper surface ofthe mirror being too dark, particularly during the night hours. Theinvention is an improvement upon the above described arrangements andstructures.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is to provide cross-view mirrors vehiclemirrors and, more particularly, to provide mirrors whose reflectiveproperties may be adjusted, and to cross-view mirrors with addedfunctionality.

Accordingly, a vehicle mirror according to the present disclosurecomprises a mirror unit including a lens, a light transmission layerdisposed to receive light from the lens, and to control lighttransmission through or reflectivity from the light transmission layer;a support for the mirror unit and a lens housing; an energy emitter inthe housing for selectively radiating energy at the light transmissionlayer to control its light transmission; and an electrical controlsystem coupled to an output of at least one sensor which is capable ofsensing an environmental parameter, the control system being effectiveto control the light transmission of the light transmission layer basedon the sensor output.

In accordance with further embodiments disclosed herein, the lighttransmission layer can comprise a photochromic material, or anelectrochromic material, or a thermochromic material and/or an LCDmaterial, and the like. The light transmissivity or reflection of thislayer can be controlled by sensing such signals as may be received fromthe vehicle's transmission, from a manual control, from a light sensor,from a door control of the vehicle, and the like.

In accordance with other embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontrol system is effective to control a motor that can adjust theorientation of the mirror lens and/or position a shade over the mirrorlens surface.

In accordance with another preferred embodiment, only a selected sectionor selected sections of the light transmissive layer is controlled toregulate the brightness of an image that may be formed on the mirrorlens.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bus with a cross-view mirror assemblyin accordance with the prior art.

FIG. 1 a is a plan view of an image produced by a cross-view mirror inaccordance with the prior art.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a vehicle mirror in accordance with the priorart.

FIG. 3 is a line drawing of a vehicle mirror in accordance with anembodiment of the invention, including a control circuit therefor.

FIGS. 3 a, 3 b and 3 c show details of the mirror lens of FIG. 3.

FIG. 4 is a line drawing of a vehicle mirror.

FIG. 4 a is an exploded view of a portion of the mirror lens, inaccordance with the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 4.

FIGS. 5 a, 5 b and 5 c are front views of vehicle mirrors in accordancewith various embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 5 d is a cross-section through FIG. 5 b.

FIG. 6 is a line drawing of a vehicle mirror in accordance with anotherembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a side view line drawing of a vehicle mirror in accordancewith a further embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8 is a side view line drawing of a vehicle mirror in accordancewith another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9 is a side view line drawing of a vehicle mirror in accordancewith a further embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

It has been determined that while prior art mirrors, and in particularcross-view mirrors, are typically fixedly attached to a bus or vehicle,it is not always desirable to have the mirror produce the samereflection or maintain the same orientation. For example, governmentalregulations require drivers to utilize the cross-view mirrors, tocarefully view the images of the ground area directly in front of andalong the side of the bus, but only while the school bus is stopped andis discharging or taking on student passengers. That is the purpose ofthe conventional cross-view mirror. Conversely, when the bus is moving,such images are much less relevant and/or useful to the driver,primarily because cross-view mirrors produce highly distorted andnon-uniformly sized images, particularly of objects located far away.Moreover, portions of the image produced by a conventional cross-viewmirror are frequently not very useful. For example, as shown in FIG. 1a, in conventional cross-view mirrors, a reflected image 72 of the bus,per se, takes up a large portion of the image produced by the mirror. Areflected image of the bus may be of little use to a driver. Also,depending on the azimuth angle of the sun and whether the bus is drivenin day or night, certain sections of the cross-view mirror might producedistracting and useless reflections.

Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown a mirror 100 in accordance with anembodiment of the invention. Mirror 100 includes an acrylic lens 102, amirror coating 104 disposed so as to receive light from lens 102, and alens support 106. The mirror coating 104 typically consists of severallayers of different materials. Its essential purpose is to reflect backlight rays that strike the mirror coating 104 and passing through theacrylic lens 102 in order to create the image. One of the constituentsof the mirror coating 104 has a light transmissivity which can bealtered in response to a stimulus and thereby dim the entire lenssurface or, more preferably, selected sections thereof in accordancewith specifically determined criteria. For example, the layer that has achangeable light transmissivity may be responsive to ultraviolet lightor, alternatively, to ordinary light, or in accordance with yet anotheralternative to heat, i.e., temperature, or to an electrical voltage orcurrent that is applied directly to that layer.

Turning to FIG. 3 a, the mirror coating 104 may include a lightcontrolling coating 104 a constructed of a material that is sensitiveand responsive to a particular stimulus to change its opacity. Forexample, the coating 104 may comprise a photochromic coating 104 a whoselight transmitting properties vary in response to being impinged byultraviolet (“UV”) light, such as UV light produced by a lamp 108 shownin FIG. 3. Coating 107 may be a paint coating provided to protect thephotochroming 104 a, and is of the type that does not block the UVlight. In the embodiment of FIG. 3 a, the photochromic coating 104 a notonly controls the light transmission, but also acts as a reflector thatreflects the light that is not transmitted through the acrylic lens 102to produce a dimmed image at the locations where the coating 104 a isprovided.

In the embodiment of FIG. 3 b, a metalizing layer 104 c is providedbehind the photochromic coating 104 a to produce the reflections, i.e.,the image seen by the driver. The protective layer 107 protects themetalized reflecting surface 104 c.

The controllable light transmissive layer 104 a may, alternatively, becomprised of a material which is responsive to other types ofelectromagnetic energy, such as energy in the visible light spectrum orinfrared energy, or simply to heat. The primary function of the layer104 a is to reduce the amount of light that passes through andeventually reflected to form the image transmitted through the acryliclens back to the driver.

As such, it will be appreciated that the layer 104 a can be provided, ifdesired, on the front side of the acrylic lens. Regardless, since thelayer 104 a has the property whereby the light transmissivity thereofmay be altered by being exposed to ultraviolet and other sources ofelectromagnetic radiation, or even by being connected directly to anelectrical signal, as is possible with LCD based devices, the lightreflection intensity of the lens can be controlled.

Moreover, it is not necessary that the entire lens 102 is coated withthe controllable light transmissive material. Only a section thereof maybe covered, as shall be described. Alternatively, several differentsections may have the coating and the different sections controlledindependently of one another.

The technology of the light controllable transmissivity of the coating104 a, i.e., its physical and material properties, need not be describedherein in detail. Suffice it to note that such materials are known inthe art, including as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,708,522 and also inU.S. Pat. No. 6,700,692, the contents of both of these patents beingincorporated herein by reference.

In accordance with one understanding of the technology of photochromiccoatings, such coatings include a plurality of molecules of substancessuch as silver chloride or silver halide embedded therein. In theabsence of exposure to UV light, the molecules are transparent tovisible light and coating 104 a has virtually no light absorption, i.e.,a maximum light transmissivity.

In this state, light entering through lens 102 passes through coating104 a virtually unaltered, travels to reflective material 104 c (FIG. 3b) and then back through lens 102, again without being significantlyaltered or attenuated. However, when photochromic coating 104 a isexposed to ultraviolet light, such as from light source 108, themolecules in coating 104 a undergo a chemical process and change shapethereby blocking light from passing through, in dependence on theintensity of the UV light. With these molecules thus altered, lightpassing through lens 102 is attenuated by coating 104 a, the attenuatedlight is reflected by reflective coating 104 c, attenuated again bycoating 104 a, and then sent out through lens 102. The attenuation couldyield a partial or complete attenuation of the intensity of light 101entering lens 102 so that no light is reflected outward.

The reflectivity of the mirror coating, i.e., the light absorption ofphotochromic coating 104 a, is affected, as noted, by UV light 108.Light 108, in turn, may be controlled by a control system 110. Controlsystem 110 may include one of a light sensor 118, a motion sensor 112, amanual control 116, a controller 114, or combinations of these elementsand the like.

In the embodiment of FIG. 3 c, the light attenuating coating 104 may beconstituted of a thermochromic optical layer 104 e, for example, of thetype described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,430, the full contents of whichare incorporated herein by reference. The thermochromic layer in thisembodiment has conductors 105 c which may be heated by passing anelectrical current therethrough to change its characteristics frombecoming substantially transparent to less transparent to opaque.

Thus, when the school bus is stopped to pick up or discharge students,the thermochromic layer 104 e is not heated and the full reflectivity ofthe mirror is obtained over all its sections to obtain the brightestimages from the mirror. However, when the bus begins to move, aninternal heater 134 connects to the conductors 105 c attached to thethermochromic layer 104 e and the upper portion or the central portionof the mirror can become darkened. When the bus arrives at the nextstop, the heater is immediately shut off and, moreover, a cooling fan109 blowing ambient air rapidly restores the temperature of the layer104 e so that the mirror provides full light transmissivity.

For certain types of thermochromic layers which work in the a reversemode whereby heating of the layer makes its material more lighttransmissive, the control mode is simply reversed. Normally, the layeris heated to obtain the maximum reflection from the mirror lens and assoon as the vehicle starts moving, the heater shuts down and the fan isactivated to darken sections of the mirror.

As described above, the present invention teaches a mirror that darkenswith heat input, as opposed to UV light. The heat threshold fordarkening can be selected by choosing the appropriate chemistry of thethermochromic dye.

The bus motion sensor 112 may be disposed at any location. Motion sensor112 may be used to detect motion of the bus, for example, that the busis moving at a speed greater than 10 miles per hour and output motionsignals in response, to cause the light 108 to dim the entirety orselected portions of the mirror surface.

Bus motion sensor 112 or controller 114 could be connected to atransmission 113 of a vehicle so to control and activate light 108 onlywhen the vehicle transmission is not in “PARK”. Or the transmissionstate may be used to control the motion sensor 112 to turn on to detectmotion only when the vehicle is in not in park or is moving slowly.Alternatively, motion sensor 112 may always be enabled but controller114 may determine how to process information in motion signals receivedfrom motion sensor 112 based on signals received from transmission 113.

Similarly, light sensor 118 may be used to detect a level of light nearmirror 100 and output light signals in response. Light sensor 118 may bedisposed at various locations on mirror 100 including on lens 102, or onsupport 106 as is shown in dotted lines. Light sensor 118 may bedisposed at a plurality of locations on support 106 such as, forexample, at both a top portion and bottom portion of support 106. Inthis way, if a light sensor 118 disposed at a top portion of support 106detects a large level of light, such as from sun light, controller 114may darken or lessen the reflectivity of a portion of an upper portionof mirror 100. The ability to affect the reflectivity of a portion of amirror is discussed in more detail below. Similarly, if light sensors118 disposed at both a top and bottom portions of support 106 bothdetect a large level of light, controller 114 may be used to darken orlessen a reflectivity of all or most or selected portions of mirror 100.

As with the discussion of motion sensor 112, controller 114 optionallyreceives signals from both light sensor 118 and transmission 113 so thatan output by controller 114 may be based on both inputs. For example,when the vehicle is not moving or the transmission is in park, if alight sensor 118 disposed on a top portion of support 106 detects a highlevel of light, controller 114 may darken an upper portion of mirror100. However, if the vehicle is moving so that it is not necessary tocheck for children running in front or alongside the school bus, suchlight detection may be less relevant or not necessary and the controller114 may be programmed to keep the upper portion or even the entiremirror 100 darkened or not reflecting until the vehicle's transmissionis in park again. Clearly, although controller 114 is shown anddescribed, light sensor 118 and motion sensor 112 may each be used todirectly control the reflectivity of mirror 100. Manual control 116 maybe used by a driver to manually affect the reflective properties ofmirror 100—for example, through light 108. The operation or output ofmotion sensor 112 or light sensor 118 may also be affected by a time ofday which may be determined by controller 114.

Referring to FIG. 4 and FIG. 4 a, control system 110 may be used tocontrol mirror 100 a in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.As with mirror 100, mirror 100 a includes a support 106 and a lens 102.Here the controlled light transmitting coating 104 includes a liquidcrystal display (“LCD”) or an electrochromic coating 104 d may be usedin front of a reflective coating 104 c. LCDs are known in the art.Basically, LCDs include molecules suspended between electrodes andpolarizing filters. By selectively applying an electric charge to thesemolecules, varying levels of light may be allowed to pass through thefilters. In an electrochromic coating, light 101 passing through theelectrochromic coating may be attenuated if an electric charge isapplied to the coating. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, controlsystem 110 is connected to an electric charge source 134 so that anoutput of control system 110 may be used to drive electric charge source134 and, consequently, selectively darken portions of LCD 104 d. IfLCD/electrochromic coating 104 d is darkened, light 101 incident thereonmay be attenuated before passing through. The LCD layer may haveelectrodes 105 a and 105 b, to electrically couple to the source 134.

As described more fully below, different areas of the mirror can betreated with different thermochromic dyes to get variable darkening withdifferent circumstances, such as more darkening at the top of the mirrorwhen exposed to sunlight, and less darkening at the bottom of the mirrorwhen exposed to headlamp glare striking the mirror from behind the bus.

Therefore, multiple heaters or a single heater with multiple circuitscan be affixed to the lens of the mirror to be activated individuallybased on a source of the glare, i.e., if the glare is coming from theheadlamp, then only activating the heater/circuit at the bottom ormiddle of the mirror to darken, and if the glare is coming from the topportion of the mirror, activating the upper heater to darken the top. Ifthe mirror needs to be defrosted, all of the heaters may be activated.Alternatively, the thermochromic characteristics can be chosen such thatthe threshold for switching between a transmissive layer and an opaquelayer is far higher than that needed to only defrost the mirror duringcold winter weather.

Light sensors (photocells) can be placed at the top of the mirror todetect sun glare and activate the heaters for upper darkening, as itrelates to sun glare. Light sensors (photocells) can be placed near thebottom of the mirror to deflect glare from headlamps striking frombehind the vehicle and to activate the heaters for lower or centraldarkening related to headlamp glare.

As already described, the mirror/heater circuit can be connected to theheadlamp circuit on the bus to automatically activate the headlamp glaredarkening heater when the headlamps of the vehicle are turned on.

Referring to FIG. 5 a, the various, previously described mirror coatings104, e.g., the photochromic coating, or LCD, or electrochromic, orthermochromic coating, may be applied to, or used, on an entire portionof a mirror 100 as is shown in FIG. 5 a. In this way, the reflectivityof the entire mirror 100 may be controlled. Alternatively, as shown inFIGS. 5 b and 5 c, any of coatings 104 may be applied to only selectedportions of mirror 100 so that the reflectivity of those portions of themirror may be controlled. Remaining portions 105 of the mirror 100 maybe always reflective (for example, including a conventional reflectivecoating) or never reflective.

For example, as shown in FIG. 5 b, one coating 104 may be applied to acentral portion 111 of a mirror, and a different section 113 of coating104 also applied, so that the sections 111 and 113 could beindependently controlled or controlled to different degrees. This may beparticularly useful in handling the problem where the vehicle itselfoccupies the predominant image in the center of the mirror. By coatingthe central portion 111 of the mirror with coating 104, and thenselectively affecting the reflectivity of that portion of the mirror,the image of the vehicle may be darkened in comparison with otherportions of the mirror. This should result in the images from the mirrorsection 115 becoming the sharpest and brightest images, which is helpfulbecause, as evident from FIG. 1 a, the section 115 is where childrenrunning in front of the bus are most likely to appear.

As another example, as shown in FIG. 5 c, only a top portion of themirror may include coating 104. In this way, sun glare reflecting into adriver's eyes may be minimized by selectively darkening or minimizingreflections from the top portion of the mirror. Other arrangements forselective coating may also be used. For example, only a left or rightside of a mirror may be coated. In the case of LCD 104 c, even if theentire mirror is covered by LCD 104 c, any portion of mirror 100 a maybe selectively dimmed or lightened so as to maximize or minimize anamount of light reflection or light attenuation.

In accordance with another embodiment, the invention dispenses with theuse of any control system and does not use any reflective surface whoselight transmission properties are controllable. Rather, instead of thereflecting surface section 113 described relative to FIG. 5 b, theinvention uses a metalizing layer which is screened to various degreesalong different portions of the mirror surface. That is, the metalizinglayer 105 has one section 105 a which is formed in the conventionalmanner to provide maximum reflectivity along a lower section of themirror. At a central section, the metalizing layer 105 is dotted withsmall gaps in the form of small circles where no material is provided toreduce reflectivity. That section is provided at a center portion of themirror. The protective non-reflective layer may use white or gray or anylighter color paint. Along an upper arc of the mirror, a larger—sizedscreening 105 c is provided to dim the image even further. In the mirrorshown in FIG. 5 c and FIG. 5 d, the sharpest images are provided at thebottom arc 105 a of the mirror with a less reflective portion at thecenter and even further less reflective at the top of the mirror. Asanother alternative, the front surface of the mirror can be abraded atselected sections (or polarized) to reduce light glare.

Control system 110 may also be to used to control an orientation ofmirror 100. For example, referring to FIG. 6, control system 110 may beused to control a motor or other mechanical means 120 to alter anorientation of the mirror unit along arrows 120 a and 120 b. Forexample, motor 120 can control a pan (left to right orientation) or tilt(up to down orientation) of mirror 100 b or alter a distance between themirror and a driver. In this way, the light reflected by the mirror maybe altered. The bus motion sensor may be utilized such that the mirror100 is automatically controlled to assume one position and orientationwhen the bus is taking on or discharging students and a differentposition when the bus is on route to the next stop. Note, the controlleris programmed to ignore temporary stops, such as at the red signals,stop signs, stop and go traffic, etc.

Referring to FIG. 7, control system 110 may be used in connection withanother mirror 100 c. Mirror 100 c may (but need not) include any one ofthe previously described coatings 104. Mirror 100 c may include anadjustable screen 122 controlled by control system 110 through a motoror other mechanical means 124. Control system 110 may control motor 124to move screen 122 up or down so as to reduce an amount of lightreflected by mirror 100 c. For example, light sensor 118 (FIG. 3) orcontroller 114 (FIG. 3) of control system 110 may measure a level ofambient light and control the position of screen 122 through motor 124.

Referring to FIG. 8, light reflected by a mirror may also be controlledthrough the use of a stationary shield 126 on a mirror 100 d. The shapeof the shield may be flat as shown, or curved toward the surface of themirror. The Mirror 100 d may also optionally use any one of coatings104.

Referring to FIGS. 3-7, control system 110, including controller 114,may be designed with preset positions or selective darkening regions orlevels for any one of mirrors 100. For example, when a signal isreceived from a transmission 113 indicating that the vehicle is in“park”, or otherwise not moving, control system 110 may control light108 or electric charge source 134 to modify the reflectioncharacteristic of mirror 100, or vice versa. Similarly, mechanicalmembers 120 or 124 may be controlled. When a signal is received fromtransmission 113 indicating that the vehicle is moving, a differentpreset may be used to affect the reflection of mirror 100, position ofmirror 100 or position of shade 122.

Motion sensor 112 may output detected motion signals to a controller114. Controller 114, in turn, may be used to control light source 108.If the bus is stopped, the controller 114 enables mirror 100 to fullyreflect light 101 and respective coatings 104 a, 104 b should beadjusted accordingly.

Referring to FIG. 9, any one of mirrors 100 could also include alook-down lamp 130. Look-down lamp 130 could be mounted on a swivelsupport 135 of mirror 100 or on any other portion of mirror 100, togenerate an illumination field of view 132 for mirror 100. The lamp 130may be manually or automatically or driver adjustable so as to bestlight the space in front of and/or alongside the school bus, and may becomprised of several lamps. Thus, the swivel support may be motorcontrolled. As with many of the embodiments discussed herein, mirror 100with look-down lamp 130 provides further enhanced safety features formirror 100.

Further referring to FIG. 9, the housing for the lamp 130 may alsosupport a movement sensor 138 which is located to detect children movingin front of or alongside the bus. As soon as any motion of this type isdetected, the housing may flash a signal through a lamp 139 or theelement 139 may also incorporate a buzzer or the like to alert thedriver of such movement independently of any image which the driver mayor may not see in the mirror. This feature provides added protectionagainst accidentally running over students, so as not to rely entirelyon visual inspection of the images on the mirror 100. Moreover, themovement sensor 138 may be coupled to the controller 110 of thepreviously described embodiments and that controller may actually showan indication of such child movements in the mirror itself throughapertures in the mirror surface containing appropriate visualindications of such movement. Preferably, a very strongly colored bulbmay be provided in a portion of the mirror such as to provide the driverwith a strong visual indication even in very bright sunlight.

With further reference to FIGS. 5 a, 5 b, 5 c and 5 d, as well as FIGS.3 a, 3 b, 3 c and 4 a, one of ordinary skill in the art wouldimmediately recognize that photochromic, thermochromic and othermaterials which form the light transmission layer might be affecteddirectly through sunlight or intense light of other vehicle's headlampsto change their light transmission properties without any need for aspecial UV lamp or a light lamp or the like. Therefore, the entireone-third or one-half or majority of the top portion of the mirrorsurface may be formed with the special coating of light transmissionlayer and that coating will respond to direct sunlight to dim the localarea where the sunlight is striking or where headlights are impinging todim the very specific portions that are being struck by the sun's UVenergy or the concentrated light from the headlights of another vehicle.Therefore, only those portions of the mirror surface which arereflecting light from the sun or from headlamps will be dimmed, as wellas small portions around them which will naturally be impacted by thoseUV or light sources naturally, although to a different lower degree,which is, in fact, advantageous.

Although the present invention has been described in relation toparticular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modificationsand other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It ispreferred, therefore, that the present invention be limited not by thespecific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.

1. A vehicle mirror comprising: a mirror unit including a lens, a lighttransmission layer disposed to receive light from the lens, and tocontrol light transmission through or reflectivity from the lighttransmission layer; a support for the mirror unit and a lens housing; anenergy emitter in the housing for selectively applying energy at or tothe light transmission layer to control its light transmission; and anelectrical control system coupled to an output of at least one sensor,the control system being effective to control the light transmission ofthe light transmission layer based on an output of the sensor.
 2. Thevehicle mirror of claim 1, wherein: the light transmission layercomprises a photochromic material; and the control system is effectiveto control a light source by selectively emitting UV light at thephotochromic material.
 3. The vehicle mirror of claim 1, wherein: thelight transmission layer comprises an electrochromic material; and thecontrol system is effective to control electric charge provided to theelectrochromic material.
 4. The vehicle mirror of claim 1, wherein: thelight transmission layer comprises a thermochromic material; and thecontrol system is effective to control thermal energy provided to thethermochromic material.
 5. The vehicle mirror of claim 1, wherein: thelight transmission layer comprises a LCD material; and the controlsystem is effective to control the LCD material to regulate its lighttransmissivity.
 6. The vehicle mirror of claim 1, wherein the controlsystem further includes a controller effective to receive a signal froma vehicle transmission, and the control system is effective to control areflectivity of the light transmission layer based on the signalreceived from the vehicle transmission.
 7. The vehicle mirror of claim1, wherein the control system is structured to receive information froma manual control.
 8. The vehicle mirror of claim 1, wherein the controlsystem is effective to control the reflectivity based on one or more ofa plurality of input signals, each obtained from a respective sensor ormanual control.
 9. The vehicle mirror of claim 8, wherein the sensor isa light sensor.
 10. The vehicle mirror of claim 1, wherein the controlsystem is effective to control the reflectivity of a central portion ofthe mirror lens.
 11. The vehicle mirror of claim 1, wherein the controlsystem is effective to control the reflectivity of a top portion of themirror lens.
 12. The vehicle mirror of claim 1, wherein the controlsystem is effective to control a motor to alter an orientation of themirror lens.
 13. The vehicle mirror of claim 12, wherein the motor iseffective to alter a tilt angle of the mirror lens.
 14. The vehiclemirror of claim 1, wherein the control system is effective to control amotor to alter a position of a shade coupled to the support.
 15. Thevehicle mirror of claim 1, further comprising a light source mounted tothe support.
 16. The vehicle mirror of claim 1, further comprising ashade disposed on the support so as to limit an amount of lightreflected by the reflective member.
 17. A vehicle mirror comprising: alens; a reflective member disposed so as to receive light from the lens;a support disposed so as to support the lens and the reflective member;and a control system connected to the reflective member and to a motor,the control system being effective to alter a position of a shutterthrough the motor so that the reflection of the reflective member may becontrolled.
 18. A method for controlling a reflection of a mirror, themirror comprising a lens, a reflective member disposed so as to receivelight from the lens, and a support disposed so as to support the lensand the reflective member, the method comprising: receiving informationfrom a sensor, the information relating to an operating condition or toan environmental condition; and providing an output which is effectiveto control a reflection of at least a portion of the reflective memberbased on the information.
 19. The method as recited in claim 18, whereinthe reflective member includes at least a portion comprising aphotochromic coating and the output is effective to control a lightsource effective to emit light which impinges on the reflective member.20. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the reflective membercomprises an LCD layer and the output is effective to control anelectric charge source effective to apply a charge to the LCD layer. 21.The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the reflective membercomprises a thermochromic material and the output is effective tocontrol heat being supplied to the thermochromic material.
 22. Themethod as recited in claim 18, further comprising receiving theinformation from a vehicle transmission.
 23. The method as recited inclaim 18, further comprising receiving the information from a manualcontrol.
 24. The method as recited in claim 18, further comprisingreceiving information from a light sensor located in proximity to themirror lens and wherein the output is based at least in part on theinformation from the light sensor.
 25. The method as recited in claim18, wherein the output is effective to control a reflectivity of acentral portion of the reflective member.
 26. The method as recited inclaim 18, wherein the output is effective to control a reflectivity of atop portion of the reflective member.
 27. The method as recited in claim18, wherein the output is effective to control an electrical device thatis structured to control a special orientation of the reflective member.28. The method as recited in claim 27, wherein the electrical device iseffective to alter a tilt angle of the reflective surface.
 29. Themethod as recited in claim 18, wherein the output is effective tocontrol a motor to alter a position of a shade coupled to the mirror.30. A vehicle mirror comprising: a mirror unit including a lens, a lighttransmission layer disposed to receive light from the lens and tocontrol light transmission through or reflectivity from the lighttransmission layer; a support for the mirror unit and a lens housing;and wherein the light transmission layer is disposed on only a selectedportion of the lens and the light transmission layer at the selectedportion is located in a manner whereby it is capable of being directlystruck by light passing through the lens to affect the lighttransmission characteristics of the portion which is struck by suchlight, whereby the reflectivity of the lens from the struck areas of thelight transmission layer is lower as compared to other sections of thelens.
 31. The vehicle mirror of claim 30, wherein the light isultraviolet light.
 32. The vehicle mirror of claim 30, wherein the layeris provided on a front side of the lens. 33-35. (canceled)